Shuttle for wire-weaving looms



Nov. 6, 1951 c. F. WICKWIRE 2,573,820

SHUTTLE FOR WIRE-WEAVING LOOMS Filed April 21, 1949 2 SHEETS-SHEET l Zhwentor BB 4" gm (Ittornegs V Nov. 6, 1951 F. WICKWIRE 2,573,820

SHUTTLE FOR WIRE-WEAVING LOOMS Filed April 21, 1949 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 (Ittornegs Patented Nov. 6, i951 SHUTTLE FOR WIRE-WEAVING LOOMS Chester F. ,Wickwire, Cortland, N. Y., assignor to Wickwire Brothers, Inc., Cortland, N. Y., a

corporation of -New York Application April 21, 1949, Serial No. 88,775

' Claims. (01. 139-197 This invention relates tothe weaving of wire fabrics and provides a new type of shuttle which, as compared with prior practice, will handle longer continuous strands of weft wire and will permit the loom to be operated at a higher speed and at the same high speed whether the fixed spool in the shuttle is full or nearly empty.

Heretofore the almost universal practice has been to mount a rotary bobbin in the shuttle and provide a trailing ordragging sprin which affords the desired tension and also reverses the rotary motion of the bobbin to take up slack when the motion of the shuttle reverses. Since the shuttle must pass out of the shed, the wire would slacken during-the initial motion of the shuttle toward and 'into the newly formed shed after each reversal, except for the provision of means for rewinding the slack on the bobbin. There is a practical limit to the rewindingforce that is available. This limits the weight and size of the bobbin which can be operated, and consequently objectionably limits the lengthof weft wire which can be woven as one continuous In an effort to overcome this limitation it has been proposed to use a coil of wire which is fixed, so that the disturbing inertia effects of the rotating bobbin will be avoided. However, the prior attempt to use this fixed coil scheme'involved unwinding the wire from the interior of the coil and the provision of a take-up mechanism-which did not rewind the wire, but instead, accumulated it temporarily on a rotary take-up' disk.

While the advantages of the fixed coil are obvious, they have not heretofore been obtained without penalty. So far as is known, the :fixed coil scheme of operation, above described, has not enjoyed wide commercial acceptance. Certainly it has not displaced the rotary bobbin scheme of the earlier art.

The present invention uses a fixed coil which is wound in the conventional manner, and from the outer convolution of which the wire is withdrawn. It is withdrawn and controlled by a rotary flyer which swings about the axis of the coil against the frictional resistance ofiered by a dragging coil spring mechanism. When the shuttle reverses, the dragging coil springbecomes effective to reverse the revolving motion of the relatively light flyer and so cause the flyer to rewind part of the wire back onthe coil from which it had just been unwound. This scheme, which has already been demonstrated on a practical basis, has marked operative advantages.

The invention will now be described by reference to the accompanying drawings which illustratethe pilot embodiment already successfully used. t In the drawings: Fig. 1 is a plan view of the shuttle. with the coil in place and the shuttle threaded- Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same. a Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of the body. of the shuttle with the spool removed.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the spooland the egress guide. I 1 Fig.5 is a fragmentary plan view-of the shuts-s tle body with portions broken away toillustrate the construction of the dragging coil spring mechanism.

Fig. 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 1 and is drawn on the same scale as Fig. 5. a J In the drawings the bodyof the shuttle is generally indicated bythe reference numeral lland carries the latch arms l2 whose form and function are familiar to persons skilled in the art; They are the meansby which the shuttle is passed back and forth through the shed and their'func tion is unaffected by the present invention.

As best shown in Fig. 3 the body ll comprises a bottom plate l3 in which the dragging coil spring mechanism hereinafter described is housed; an arcuate upstanding wall l4 rising from the base l3 and to which thelatch arms I2 are attached; and an inwardly directed arcuate flange 15. A flanged spool [6, best shown in Fig. 4, carries the coil of wire and is sustained in the shuttle body by the upward one of itstwoflanges. This upward flange rests upon the flange l5 above described and is centered partlyby the bosses l1 and partly by two over-hanginglugs [8. It is latched in position by-a swinging latch [9 which has a latch finger 2| dimensioned to enter an aperture 22 formed in the upper flange of spool Hi to receive it. As a simple means of retaining the swinging latch in its engaged position use is made of an inserted bow spring 20 shown in Fig. 1. Thespool has a c'en tral tube 23 and consequently is axially apertured. Its upper end is closed by an annular plug '24 atthe center of which an egress guide 25 is mounted. It will be observed that the egress guide is supported by the spool and the'spooljini turn issupported by the body of the shuttlebut in effect the egress guide is supported by the body of the shuttle and is coaxial with thespool. The spool does not rotate but is fixed positively-in position.

The bottom plate 13 is recessed at its center and carries a fixed hub 26, the hub being encircled by a rotating annulus 21 and the two members 26 and 21 being formed to afiord races for an anti-friction bearing which includes the balls 28. The annulus 21 is confined by a retaining plate 29. The retaining plate is removably attached to the bottom plate I3 by screws 3| and overlies both the margin of the annulus 21 and an annular chamber formed in the base plate l3 to receive a dragging coil spring 32 This spring 32 resembles a clock spring. It is attached to the annulus 2'! at its inner end as in-'- dicated at 33 in Fig. 5. Its outer end is free but is in frictional engagement with the outer wall of the chamber in which it is housed. The

area of such frictional engagemnt is indicated generally by the numeral 34 on Fig. 5.

Obviously if the coil spring tends to c gpand it will develop friction in the area 34 and the degree of such friction can be determined by choosing the normal configuration of the spring.

Attached to the 2111111111152] byscrews 35 is the arm -.-3S.of ethe .fiyer. As a practical matter the wire guide on the fiyer should have one extremity located at the geometrical axis of the spool and the otheriextremity extending over one flange of the spool so that .it over-hangs the .coiled wire on ,-.the spool to avoid unnecessary friction and .to prevent kinking .of the wire.

The guiding means takes the form of an inner roller 31 which has a rather deep V-groove and also an outer roller 38 which likewise has a .deep V-groove. The roller 3'! lies within the tubularcore ,23 of the spool. The outer roller 38 is skewed .so that it will receive the wire strand from the coil between the flanges of the spool, .guide it around the margin of the lower flanges of thespool, and deliver it to the inner guide roller 31. The movement of the .wire is reversed during rewinding.

'In Fig. .2 .the coiled wire is generally indicated by thedetter A. {The unwinding strand B leads over theouter guide 38 and then, as indicated at cnpassesp rall l to the lower fla e f h spool Hi to the guide 3]. -:'Ihe part C of the-strand is likewise indicated in Fig. 6. The strand leaves the guide .3! and, as indicated at D in Fig. 6, is lead directly to the egress guide 25. This guide is rounded atitsesit end so that the wire will notbe too sharplybentas it is laid in the shedahvthe huttle.

withappli ants vic n s e a w g f the bobbi is ne es a i e h we en on is contr l ed sol ly b th .flyer and th d a snring stability and u ii rmi .qf a on ar assured. h w ht wi e-o t b b n ha no iefiteetwha so v r h h lack ake-u .Si e ion n e ,outs d diam t o e W e c.011 an n he an le o ap ro of th th u e uide n theiiveh an the r t at 'w.. h th fix ro at s and ih fi P1 5 3 5 r th five is er low wh teve a a on i tens on there ma e are e much es thee hos enc un re w th rotati g beb a are tolerable wtih fixed bobbins of many times the sai qit 9 th d ro a ng bobbinsh W 9 a t fi ed 9 1 m i tension mas ehi ql ed in di tinc di r n Ways when wine wasbeing drawn off and .when slack was bei g .rewe he- B au e p i a fiv P iene beth he ii hs and merely hd the slack n the coil from which it' was unihe rran ement he e disclosed i h ently favors uniformity of tension, whether or 4 not it attains absolute uniformity. Such lack of uniformity as may exist is not detectable in the final result, i. e. the resulting weave.

The dragging coil spring mechanism has been used in the art to control the bobbin but has never, so far as known, been used to control a flyer. Since the mass of the flyer is uniform and quite low, such springs give a new and greatly improved performance in the new' combination. Since the term dragging coil spring is well known in the art it will be used in the claims in its Modifications within the scope of the claims are contemplated and the specific construction illustrated is'eiriemplary only.

1. A shuttlejgr wire weaving looms comprising in combinationfa shuttle body; a wire-egress guide supported in fixed relation to said body; means for fixedly supporting a coil of wire on said body with its per pheral ohve uti hs posed; a fiyer mounted to revolve relatively to said body n an ax su a t l co nc d n with -the;axis of said coil. s id fiv h n a tralwireuidesubstantia l a said a is an arranged to direct wi e t sai e s gu e and i -also areve vine w re-guid wh h win s ina path .en re nssai .cei es th flye v ve and s in lm ans o t s ag in 0011 Wis ed :to o e i t 9 fl esistanc t eve tiq 9f the .zflye 1 th? QZ PQ Qh 'l i h W from h 911 n swip ep h ele Q Wire tensi to-re e ethe fl ri 'ih s 991 je den and s ew Wi eame ee .12.- These. h 9;; iei hes h c ai 1 in which th wire 911 i wo nd etw n 'f e a fiah edspep :meensere p e t connect said sppql n ee eleh ai c i i-fil vbody- 3- Th emhiheiieh define i c n in which the e. s ide e egplh he thi bribe 'e and yireyne e h weehh e t a guide 6 thefl erahd sa d e ss -h sub n i along said M 4. The combination defined in claim 1 in which the Wi e 199. 1 is Wai -i 99 a flan e P L s $299. is elee ah e hh ie wi h the Shuttle ee r b n aes en a ing eh flan re and the flyer swings "between a portion of -the body and the iher .fhhs the ize-e wi vhis han Sa flangeon -d efined "in ,claim 1 in museum a fl n ed $1 e sai 1 1 99 r eas'e l meimie shut le h w h w eh ih a m awi h the 995 5 th me swi n e -siieeeetih -eihe h he of ii sp e it e w s i e eve hah ih s iee he e 9 a ree? he i oef eeed he ehsl ei e hee es .e hihesh e rem' from the fiyer.

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